The Ultimate Reading List to Start Building Your Brand

This book is a true classic that should be in your reading list as this has inspired and impacted millions of lives, including my own. These habits will absolutely change your life. Really. Not a book on branding or marketing, but a book on how to be authentic, true to yourself, and of value to others. Dr. Covey’s principles will teach you to live with and on purpose, and if you follow its principles you will not only be effective, but affecting.

The big daddy, original gangsta of self-help books, How to Win Friends and Influence People was first published in 1937 and became an overnight – and everlasting — sensation. The bookis just as relevant and useful today as it was 75 years ago because Dale Carnegie had an understanding of human nature that will never be outdated. Financial success, Carnegie believed, is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to “the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people.” Like most classics that endure, there’s a reason over 15 million people have benefitted from its wisdom, and you should be one of them so better put this on your reading list.

Gary Vaynerchuk:Crush It! (and literally every book he’s has every written!)

We are just cuh-razy about Gary Vee here at Like a Boss Girl! His books (that are a-must on your reading list) will give you chapter and verse on everything you need to know about building and promoting your brand and your business (and they will illuminate how those 2 things should be the same thing).

By one of the authors of the ubiquitous “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series (that should also be on your reading list), The Success Principles helps you get from where you are to where you want to be, teaching you how to increase your confidence, tackle daily challenges, and live with passion and purpose. Filled with memorable and inspiring stories, it spells out 64 timeless strategies and proven principles that can be adapted for your own life and ‘brand’.

A “step-by-step guide for anyone with something to say or something to sell”, Hyatt’s book will give you tips on how to extend and even monetize your influence, and how to build a sustainable career. The secret? You guessed it: Building a platform.

Not to mention Linchpin, Purple Cow, Tribes, and oh yeah, every book Seth Godin’s ever written. Seth Godin is THE man. He’s the father of modern-day thinking about marketing. For a long time, Unleashing the Ideavirus was the most popular ebook ever published, and Purple Cow was the bestselling marketing book of its decade. He pretty much single-handedly changed the way people think about marketing and work.

A wise, wonderful man (read my interview here), Chris Guillebeau is the go-to guru, easy-on-the-eyes, self-helper extraordinaire who pens hard-to-put-down self-help books. His very popular blog, The Art of Non-Conformity, explores entrepreneurship, travel, and personal development topics. At his site you can also download his Brief Guide to World Domination and learn more about the World Domination Summit he organizes each year. The $100 Startup is a great place to start for any fledgling entrepreneur and “Like a Boss” girl like you.

DAMETOWN.COM
I'm Dixie Laite -- a writer, speaker, and branding consultant in New York City. For over 40 years I've been a bullshit-slaying, classic movies-obsessing, animal-loving dame. For over 40 years I have been working on figuring out how to be a woman. Some of it I nailed, a lot of it I'm still trying to get a handle on. Let's figure this shit out together!